Milk preheater



V. W. ADAMS MILK PREHEATER June 15, 1937.

Filed Dec. 7, 1934 [7209712 07 V/rqi/ W/flsfe ad Adams Patented June 15, 1937 PATENT OFFICE MILK PBEH'EAT'EB;

Virgil Winstead Adams, Danville, 111., assignor to Consolidated Products Company, Danville, 111., a corporation of Nebraska Application December 7, 1934, Serial No. 756,451

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in preheaters and more particularly to a preheater for the treatment of milk or butter-milk in the preparation of a semi-solid or dried milk or powder 5 milk product.

- vThe main object of the invention is to provide preheating apparatus for the purpose indicated which will be considerably more efficient than conventional hot well heating methods as here- 10 tofore used, and another object is to provide an improved device which may be produced at a very low cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference tothe following 15 specification and accompanying drawing, in

which there is illustrated a milk preheater embodying a selected form of the invention.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a section on a vertical plane passing 20 through the axis of the device;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the right-hand end of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are sections on the lines 33 and 44 respectively of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, the improved device comprises a casing or jacket 5 which, in one practical embodiment of the device may be formed of a length of cast iron pipe of internal diameter of approximately 8 inches and an over- 30 all length of about 10 feet.

At the top of the cylindrical casing thus formed, there is provided a suitable tapped boss 6 for receiving a pipe connection I which constitutes the inlet for hot water or other suitable heating 35 medium, and a similarly formed tapped boss 8 which receives a pipe connection 9 which constitutes an outlet opening for such heating medium. As shown, the inlet and outlet openings for the heating medium are spaced horizontally,

40 both being located on the top of the casing and respectively adjacent the opposite ends of the latter.

Additional openings to the jacket are provided for a cooling medium. an inlet opening I re- 45 ceiving the pipe connection I I being provided on 'the top of the casing preferably adjacent the heating medium outlet and a cooling medium outlet I2 receiving a pipe connection I3 is provided on the bottom of the casing, preferably adjacent the other end of the latter.

At the ends of the casing there are formed latterly outwardly extending flanges I4, I4 which are recessed as indicated at I5 to receive tube 55 plates such as I6.' The tube plates I6 are each provided with a plurality of openings such as indicated at H and each opening in one tube plate is connected with an opening in the tube plate at the opposite end by means of a conduit such as indicated at I8, The conduits l8 preferably consist of brass tubing of a diameter of about 1 inches. The ends of the conduits l8 pass through the respective openings Fly in the tube plates and are flared outwardly to conform to the tapers formed on the openings I I, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. By thus flaring the conduit ends in the openings in the tube plates the latter are anchored against endwise removal from the conduits. Also, it will be understood that the outward flaring or rolling of the conduit ends is done in such a manner as to provide liquid proof joints between the outside of the conduits and the tube plates.

End closures such as indicated at l9, I9 are provided for each end of the casing and such end closures are preferably formed of metal such as brass and in the form of a door which may be hinged to the adjacent end flange by means of a suitable hinge construction such as indicated at 20. Each end closure I9 has an opening extending therethrough and communicating with the adjacent end of one of the conduits. In this in-' stance. the closure I9 at the right-hand end ofv the structure is shown as being provided with an outlet opening 2| having suitably connected to it piping or other conduit 22. The end closure I9 at the left-hand end of the structure shown in the drawing is provided with an inlet opening 23 in the center of the member and inlet piping or conduit 24 is suitably connected to such door in communication with the opening 23. As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the inlet piping 24 communicates with the adjacent end of the centrally located conduit I8 and the outlet piping 22 is connected with the adjacent end of a different conduit, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Each closure member I9 is provided with a plurality of recesses or passageways such as indicated at 25, each passageway being of elongated formation and adapted to connect the adjacent ends of two conduits. To prevent leakage between said passageways, a gasket such as indicated at 26, preferably of lead, is interposed between each end closure I9 and the adjacent tube plate I6 and such gasket is of course provided with suitable apertures such as indicated at 2'! registering with passageways 25 in the adjacent end closure. The end closures may conveniently be clamped in operative position by means of hinged clamping bolts such as indicated at 28 which are received by slots provided in the peripheries of the adjacent connected parts.

The arrangement is such that milk or buttermilk or other milk product which is fed into the preheater through the inlet piping 24 passes through the central conduit Hi to the opposite end. of the device, then through the passageway 25 to the adjacent end of another conduit, back to the starting end of the device through another passageway, and so on through the device until it finally reaches the outlet piping 22, whereby it is conveyed to the desired apparatus. Hot water for heating the milk passing through the conduits I8 is conveyed into the casing through the inlet 1 and flows through the casing and around the conduit l8 to the other end of the casing and out through the outlet 9. When it is necessary to cool the conduits I 8 and the liquid flowing therethrough, cold water or other cooling medium is fed in through the cooling medium inlet ll, caused to flow through the casing to the opposite ends thereof and drawn therefrom through the outlet I3. Suitable valves are of course provided in the various pipe lines to control the flow therein.

The described structure embodies no complex or hard-to-make parts and all parts with which the treated milk or milk product comes in con tact are preferably made of non-corrosive material, such as brass, lead or the like. Because of the simplicity of the structure described, it may be quickly produced at a very low cost. The efficiency of the device is much higher than other types of heating or preheating devices which have heretofore been in use in the conversion of milk or butter-milk into semi-solid or solid products and the device is compact and hence additionally advantageous.

Changes in the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claim, the same being construed as broadly as possible consistent with the state of the art.

I claim:

A device for preheating milk comprising conduit means comprising a plurality of longitudinally horizontal, generally co-extensiye, substantially parallel sections of metallic tubing which are interconnected at the ends thereof to define a single, continuous conduit having one or more reflexed bends therein, means for causing the milk to be heated to flow through said conduit, and means for heating the outer surface of said conduit thereby heating the milk flowing therethrough, said heating means comprising a generally cylindrical, liquid-tight casing which encloses at least a substantial portion of said horizontally extending tubes, said casing having at least two longitudinally spaced inlet openings and at least one outlet opening formed in the top portion thereof, one inlet opening being positioned adjacent one end of the casing, said outlet opening being positioned adjacent the other end of the casing, means for introducing a fluid heating medium into said casing through one of said inlet openings, and means for introducing a cooling medium into said casing through the other of said inlet openings, said casing also having a second outlet opening which is located at the bottom portion thereof.

V. W. ADAMS. 

